Tong Pooh
Tonpū |Debut= Game: Strider (CPS-1) |Voice Actors= Yumi Tôma (PC-Engine) Yayoi Jinguji (Marvel vs. Capcom) Miho Yamada (Namco x Capcom) Niki Kernow (Strider 2014) Eri Nakao (Project X Zone 2) |Gender= Female |Hair Color= Black (original sprite) Brown |Eye Color= Brown |Nationality= Chinese |Affiliation= Kuniang/The Four Winds Grandmaster Meio |Weapon= Rinkaku SwordCapcom (February 2014, multi). Strider Hiryu (Japanese). Character Intel #21: Tong Pooh (Strider 2014) |Fighting Style= Original style based off KenpôCapcom (October 2006, PlayStation). Gamebook: Strider Hiryu (Japanese). Pg. 42. ISBN 4-86233-076-2. KenjutsuCapcom (2013). "Character: Tong Pooh Three Sisters". Capcom's official Strider site (Japanese). Retrieved December 20, 2013. }} Tong Pooh ( , lit. East Wind), also romanized as Ton Pooh and Tong Poo, is a recurring character in the series, appearing in most versions of the first Strider game, and returning for its two official sequels. She's also the character with the most exposure in the series besides Hiryu himself. Tong Pooh is the middle sister of the bounty hunter and assassin trio known as the Kuniang Team/Four Winds. She acts as the team's leader''Strider'' Development Staff (March 1989). "Strider Hiryu Characters Original Image Collection". Gamest (30). Pg. 98-99., recognized from her sisters by her green clothes and unique hairstyle, two braided pigtails. The most skilled among her sisters, Tong Pooh combines her mastery of martial arts and acrobatics with kenjutsu ("sword arts"), fighting with a Chinese Rinkaku (Unicorn's Horn) Sword ( línjiǎodāo/''rinkakutō''; "Rokkaku" butterfly sword in English). Though Rinkaku swords are usually wielded in pairs, Tong Pooh uses a single one with incredible dexterity. The most influential of the three sisters, she has a strong-minded personality that pushes the team forward during battle. Upfront and confrontational, Tong Pooh has a fiery temper that tends to make her the most vocal of the sisters when they act together, being the one who taunts Hiryu after their eventual defeat. When in battle, she's fueled by rage as she exterminates her targets, drawing strength from her surging anger. Her devotion to Grandmaster Meio is also notably pronounced in her speech, making her one of his most passionate subordinates. Story Strider (CPS-1) After Hiryu single-handedly brought down his base at St. Petersburg, Grandmaster Meio put a large bounty on his life. Just like fellow bounty hunter Solo, Tong Pooh and her sisters were contracted by the Grandmaster for the jobCapcom (February 22, 2014). Strider Hiryu Visual Chronicle (Japanese). Pg. 07. Leading her sisters aboard the Russian Sky Thunder Mk-II, they were flying over Siberia when Hiryu boarded it, intent on hijacking it. The three sisters sprung into attack, but Hiryu claimed victory against all three in the end. Hiryu confronts the defeated Tong Pooh about her boss, but she only answers with taunts, calling him an idiot while assuring that they are invincible as long as the Flying Battleship Balrog is active. This, however, only prompts Hiryu to assault and eventually destroy the flying fortress by himself. Strider 2 Tong Pooh and her sisters work as ruthless assassins, employing their martial arts to eliminate targets while keeping appearances working a cover job as part of the "Ming Liang" acrobatics troupeCapcom (February 22, 2014). Strider Hiryu Visual Chronicle (Japanese). Pg. 34. The sister trio join in the Chinese Mafia's terrorist strike on Neo Hong Kong City, likely orchestrated by Light Sword Cypher. She and her sisters confront Hiryu in the high society residential area, on a speedway crowded by flying cars. Jumping from car to car, Hiryu faces the three acrobatic assassins and defeats them at the end. Following Hiryu's destruction of the Emperor Dragon, a defeated Tong Pooh taunts him with his foolishness in believing he can take "her Lord", and that the fate of the city, the whole world and even Hiryu himself belongs to him. Hiryu retorts that she's the only one that will always be Meio's servant, and leaves her behind. Strider (2014) Tong Pooh is the team leader of the Winds, a martial arts trio trained by the mysterious and powerful Xi Wang Mu. Loyal to a fault, they serve Grandmaster Meio as his personal bounty hunters and assassin unit. After Hiryu infiltrated Kazakh City, they pursued him across the city complex. Tong Pooh enters into scene after her two sisters failed to defeat Hiryu together. She awaits for him deep within Kazakh City's Ventilation area in the Underground, taunting him and encouraging General Mikiel's troops through the broadcast system. When Hiryu finally arrives at her location, he's greeted by the three sisters. Tong Pooh fights him first on her own, commending him for causing her sisters trouble. As it becomes obvious she alone can't handle him, her sisters assist her individually and finally all three together join to fight him with their combined might. In the end, however, the three Wind sisters are unable to defeat Hiryu and are defeated. Tong Pooh angrily shouts at Hiryu to revel in his "false victory", claims they will "raise again", and taunts that he'll never defeat "their lord", who "is everything" and rules over everything, including him. Hiryu simply replies that she's the one who will always be his servant and proceeds with his mission. Some time later, Xi Wang Mu confronts Hiryu while claiming revenge over her students' demise, implying the three eventually died at some point afterwards. Skills and Abilities While their true strength is found in their combined team attacks, each sister is an expert martial artist in their own right. The most skilled among her sisters, Tong Pooh displays graceful acrobatics and nimble movements in her attacks, her technique said to "mesmerize anyone who observes it" right before she finishes her targets off in the blink of an eye. Her extraordinary fighting technique is expressed through lithe movements and the incredible strength of her legs, capable of creating deadly whirlwinds of plasma identical in power to the ones made by Hiryu's CypherSega (Sept 29, 1990, Mega Drive). Strider Hiryû (Japanese). Instruction manual, Pg. 23, and her amazing speed of movement and reflex. Her fighting skill is also stated to be equal to Hiryu's own. When the three sisters fight as a team, she carries the position of "main attacker", leading the battle straight ahead as her sisters support her from behind. Covered by Nang Pooh's defense and Pei Pooh's support fire, she lunges forward against her targets with an all-out offensive strategy. Attacks Note: This list her individual moves. For attacks when the sisters are together, see the Kuniang article. * Back Spin Kick: Her signature technique. Tong Pooh does a small hop forward, and quickly spins in mid-air. Once her back is facing the opponent, she does a back kick with enough strength to generate a long arc of plasma energy. Absent in the 2014 game. * Spin Dive: Tong Pooh prepares herself and dives forward, spinning around with her sword stretching outwards, turning herself into a green whirlwind. * Spiral Slash: Tong Pooh crouches down, then jumps upwards while doing a spiral slash, leaving behind a trail of plasma. As she does so, two green Option A drones appear besides her, shooting green projectiles at Hiryu that can be destroyed. * Dive Kick: Tong Pooh jumps upwards and descends at an angle with a powerful, plasma-engulfed kick. Usually all three sisters use this technique when together to diminish Hiryu's moving space. * Blade Block: By shielding herself with her weapon, Tong Pooh can defend from Hiryu's attacks for a short time. Can be broken by a charged slash. * Backflip: A dodge maneuver. Tong Pooh does a backwards backflip to move away from Hiryu. * Spin Dodge: A dodge maneuver used to move around Hiryu. Tong Pooh moves while spinning in place. Design Notes Other Appearances Game Appearances Marvel vs. Capcom Tong Pooh ("Ton Pooh" in-game) appears in Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes as one of several "Special Partners", characters which can be called forth during battle to deliver a quick attack and then leave. Upon being called, Ton Pooh jumps into the screen and delivers her signature Back Spin Kick, which covers the full length of the screen. Namco x Capcom Tong Pooh appears as a minor enemy alongside Solo and Strider Hien, and uses the Back Spin Kick and Somersault Kick as her attacks. She serves Grandmaster Meio and protects the Third Moon. She's portrayed as blindly loyal to Grandmaster Meio, and very aggressive against her enemies, specially towards Hiryu. She's entirely focused on killing anyone opposing her master. She confronts the main party at several points, often accompanied by Meio's other subordinates or by a group of Nam Pooh soldiers, grey-clothed clones of herself. She finally dies, along Meio's entire entourage, in Chapter 44. SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Tong Pooh appears in two of the three games in this card-themed crossover series. In the second game (Card Fighters 2), she and her sisters appear in the art for a Reaction Card (a type of counter card) named "3 Sisters" ( ). In the third game (Card Fighters DS), she's an actual character card alongside Hiryu. She's a card of "C" Rarity (common) with 400 hit points and no special ability. While her English card profile states she's "the daughter of Meio", this is a mistranslation of the original line, which instead only calls her a "chinese girl and subordinate of Grandmaster Meio". Street Fighter × All Capcom Tong Pooh appears as one of the 500+ character cards found in this crossover mobile phone game. She appears in a single card of "R" (mid) rarity standing in her classic "leaning down" pose. Project X Zone 2 Tong Pooh appears as an enemy unit in this crossover tactical role-playing game. She primarily references Strider 2 in design, utilizing her "Plasma Kick" as her single-target attack, and calling forth her sisters Pei Pooh and Sai Pooh (in her Strider 2 sprite designs) to perform three Plasma Kicks in her multi-target attack. One of the few surviving followers of Grandmaster Meio after Hiryu killed him, Tong Pooh appears in Chapter 4 as an ally of several of the main antagonists. She's seen commanding both Solo and the remains of the "Fourth Empire" army, consisting of several Vector units (from Star Gladiator), and working with M. Bison, having provided him the Balrog to mass-produce B.O.W.s and Aragami after he healed her from fatal wounds suffered at the end of Chapter 4. As she truly idolizes Grandmaster Meio, she's revealed to be seeking a way to ressurect him, and eventually joins Sigma for this purpose. During Chapter 37, they attempt to use the magical power of the world of Valkyrie and its big summoning circle to "summon" his soul back to the world, similar to how Sigma's "soul" was pulled back from Cyberspace during the game. Their plans are, however, put to an end and Tong Pooh is finally killed, but not before claiming Hiryu merely delayed the inevitable. Cameos Strider Returns While Tong Pooh is not seen at all at any point in the game, she's shown talking to Strider Hinjo in the cutscene at the end of the second stage, stating "You can never win". Capcom Fighting Jam Tong Pooh makes a minor background cameo in the comic book-styled ending of Felicia from Darkstalkers fame. Tong Pooh appears in the last panel dancing alongside Felicia and a host of several other Capcom female characters.Udon Staff (June 25, 2007). Fighting Evolution - FELICIA. UDON's DeviantArt page. Accessed 13 March, 2014 Dragon's Dogma Quest As part of a limited cross-promotion with the Vita port of this Dragon's Dogma spin-off, Tong Pooh appears as a character card alongside her sisters and Hiryu, sporting an unique job class. She appears in her 2014 design. Gallery Tonpooh_art.png|''Strider'' Official art St1_tonpooh_portrait.png|In-game portrait Pce_tonpooh_portrait.png|''PC-Engine'' first portrait Pce_tonpooh_portrait2.png|''PC-Engine'' second portrait Tonpooh_fanbook_clean.png|Tong Pooh, by Akiman Str2_tonpooh_artwork.png|''Strider 2'' official art Strider2_tongpoo_art.png|''Strider 2'' profile art Tonpooh_ingame_1.png|''Strider 2'' In-game portrait Str2_tonpooh_art_promo.png|Tong Pooh's promo art, by Harumaru Tonpooh_conceptart_1.png|''Strider 2'' Concept Sketch #1 Tonpooh_conceptart2.png|''Strider 2'' Concept Sketch #2 Str2_tonpooh_art_early.png|Colored sketch, by Harumaru Str2_kuniang_backstage.png|Tong Pooh and her sisters in the troupe's backstage NewStrider_TongPooh_artwork.png|2014 Strider hi-res art NewStrider_TonPooh_art.png|2014 Strider portrait art NewStrider_TongPooh_concept.png|2014 Strider concept art StrHD_tongpooh_vs_hiryu.png|Tong Pooh faces Hiryu StrHD_tongpooh_attack.png|Tong Pooh's "Spin Dive" attack StrHD_tong_attack.png|Close-up of the Spin Dive CFDS tonpooh card.png|''Card Fighters DS'' card CFE felicia ending.png|Tong Pooh's cameo (5th from the right) in Capcom Fighting Jam Nxc tonpooh face.png|''Namco x Capcom'' in-game Nxc tonpooh special.png Sfxac R tonpooh.png|''Street Fighter x All Capcom'' card Ddq tongpooh card.png|''Dragon's Dogma Quest'' card Pxz2_tongpooh.png|Tong Pooh in Project X Zone 2 Pxz2_tongpooh_plasma_kick.png|Tong Pooh's "Plasma Kick" attack Pxz2_tong_pooh_sisters.png|Tong Pooh's "Triple Plasma Kick" MAP attack Pxz2 tongpooh dialog.png|''Project X Zone 2'' dialog artwork Tonpooh_capcombishoujo.png|Tong Pooh, by Mine YoshizakiShinseisha (August 10, 1995). Capcom Bishōjo Senshi Comic Anthology (Japanese). Capcom Gals Fighter: The Dream Battle (pg. 6). ISBN 4-88199-188-4 Str2_amshow.png|Capcom employee dressed as Tong Pooh during the 1999 AM Show. Trivia * Tong Pooh's three measurements (bust, waist, hip) are officially unknown. * In Japan, Tong Pooh was one of the more popular characters during the game's early life. Gamest magazine in particular ranked her 13th Best Character of 1989Staff (December 27, 1989). "3RD Gamest Grand Prix". Gamest (41). Pg. 68-79., 15th "Top Game Gal" of 1990Staff (May 1990). "Game Gals Top 30". Gamest (45). Pg. 2. and 28th "Top Game Gal" of 1993Staff (March 1993). "Game Gals Top 30". Gamest (87). Pg. 44.. Her leaving a strong impression upon the Marvel vs. Capcom staff (or more than likely upon its director, Atsushi Tomita) was a factor for her inclusion in the game as well, despite not being a protagonist/playable character.Capcom (1998). Official Marvel vs. Capcom website (Japanese). Support Characters Introduction. Retrieved from Archive.org. Accessed March 13, 2014. * Reportedly, the design of Street Fighter's popular Chinese warrior Chun-Li was inspired by Tong Pooh. The Street Fighter III: New Generation Secret File appears to make a nod to this fact, showing a picture of Tong Pooh in a TV while wondering if it'd be the "next Chun-Li". * Supporting the above, Akiman's earliest sketches of Chun-Li have a remarkable resemblance to the Kuniang's attires.Yasuda, Akira (November 10, 2017). "Akiman's twitter" (Japanese). Accessed November 15, 2017. * Tong Pooh is also referenced in Toli's profile from the ''Street Fighter V'' online encyclopedia, noting how similar her Chinese name Dōng Fēng is to both Chun-Li's and Toli's (Dōng Lì).Nakayama (September 6, 2016). "Character Encyclopedia #154: Toli" (Japanese). Capcom Fighters Network official site. Retrieved August 5, 2016 References Category:Characters Category:Foes Category:Bosses